What if this is the little girl of the prior post all grown up? But no, they really don’t look that much alike, and the time frames are backwards anyway; it was just fun to entertain the idea, fleetingly, and left me with the hope that I find a set like that some day. This one was a little hard to give a title to, but the word regal keeps coming to mind for the pose and demeanor of this beautiful dark-haired young woman. She wears a white or very light-colored high-necked blouse, the sleeves of which go past the elbow and are wide-cuffed to match the collar; a long skirt of a dark color; and a fabric belt with a metal buckle. Her hair is swept up in a Gibson Girl style crowned with a wreath of small flowers, which we can’t see too much of, due to the wreath setting back somewhat and the angle of the shot. At first glance that might appear to be a large corsage fastened to the blouse but after a closer look seems to be something that happened afterward to the postcard. The horizontal lines running almost all the way across the card are part of the story, too. So, this postcard must have had something laying on top of it that created some impressions. The lines are a fascinating effect, really. The photo backdrop depicts a stone archway with some plants next to the base of the arch (of which we only see one side) and this gives the impression that the woman has made an entrance, and then paused to gaze off into the distance.
The stamp box here is an Aristo with bird logo, the word “Trademark” and the phrase “Place One-Cent Stamp Here.” This particular Aristo style is estimated to be from about 1905 – 1907, according to the excellent Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City website.
Undivided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. Aristo stamp box. Circa 1905 – 1907.
Price: $10.00
Source: Guide to Real Photo Postcards. Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City. Accessed 12 Sep 2014 (http://www.metropostcard.com/guiderealphoto.html)